THE MUSICAL CULTURE IN THE PERSATUAN PERANAKAN CINA MELAKA RACHEL ONG SHU YING CULTURAL CENTRE UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA UniversityKUALA LUMPUR of Malaya 2019 THE MUSICAL CULTURE IN THE PERSATUAN PERANAKAN CINA MELAKA RACHEL ONG SHU YING DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTERS OF PERFORMING ARTS (MUSIC) CULTURAL CENTRE UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA KUALA LUMPUR University of Malaya 2019 University of Malaya THE MUSICAL CULTURE IN THE PERSATUAN PERANAKAN CINA MELAKA ABSTRACT This thesis examines how the Baba Nyonya community in Melaka represent their cultural identity through musical activities. The Baba Nyonya or Peranakan are long- standing culturally syncretic minority group, resulting from the marriage of southern- China Hokkien migrants and local women in the Straits Settlements. The result of the union is an eclectic material culture, custom and practices evident in Chinese, Malay, Dutch, British and Portuguese influences. As a case study, the focus of this research is the Persatuan Peranakan Cina Melaka (PPCM, Peranakan Chinese Association of Melaka). The association played an important role to safeguard the political standing of the Peranakan in the pre-WWII days. However, in the present, located in what was once considered Peranakan core area of Heeren Street, the association acts as a focal point for the congregation of Peranakan community in Melaka where cultural expression take place in the form of musical activities and performances and this is done through the three groups: BaNya choir group, The Melodians band, and Bunga Rampay dance group. The three groups share the same song repertoire, which is a collection of songs cultivated through family genealogies that evokes nostalgia and collective memory. Using participation-observation as a research method and frameworks like Turino’s (2008) participatory performance and Frith’s (1996) concept on music and identity, this study exploresUniversity how popular music draws emotional of alliances Malaya that invokes collective identity. Besides that, this thesis also deals with the notion of continuity and reinvention of tradition. It explores how the Peranakan song repertoire and performance practice reveal links to the past and its implications on the future. Negotiation of identity is a constant theme throughout this study, evident in the song repertoire and performances. Keywords: music, cultural identity, continuity, reinvention of tradition. iii ABSTRAK Tesis ini meneroka bagaimana komuniti Baba nyonya di Melaka mewakili identiti kebudayaan mereka melalui aktiviti-aktiviti muzik. Baba Nyonya atau Peraakan adalah sebuah komuniti yang mempunyai kebudayaan yang sinkretik dan merupakan sebuah komuniti minority di Melaka. Kelahiran komuniti baba nyonya adaalah daripada perkahwinan antara pedagang (pendatang) Hokkien dari China selatan dengan wanita tempatan di pemukiman selat Melaka ( Straits Settelemtns). Akibat daripada perkahwinan itu adalah kelahiran kebudayaan material dan adat istiadat yang mempunyai pengaruh Cina, Melayu, Belanda, British, dan Portugis. Sebagai kes kajian, tumpuan penyelidikan ini adalah di Persatuan Peranakan Cina Melaka (PPCM). Persatuan ini telah memainkan peranan yang penting demi melindungai hak dan hal-ehwal komuniti Peranakan sebelum Perang Dunia Ke-dua. Tetapi pada masa kini, Persatuan ini terletaknya di Heeren Street yang dulu dianggap sebagai kawasan teras komuniti Peranakan di Melaka telah menjadi tumpuan bagi Jemaah komuniti Peranakan di Melaka di mana aktiviti-aktiviti muzik dan persembahan dijalankan melalui tiga kumpulan, iaitukumpulan koir BaNya, kumpulan pancaragam The Melodians, dan kumpulan penari Bunga Rampay. Ketiga-tiga kumpulan ini berkongsi repertoire lagu yang sama, iaitu lagu-lagu yang dikumpulakan melalui silsilah keluarga yang merangsangkan nostalgia dan memori. Dengan menggunakan kaedah “participant-observation” sebagai kaedah kajian dan rangka kerja seperti participatory performance yang dicakan oleh Turino (2008) dan konsep muzik dan identityUniversity oleh Frith (1996), penyelidikan ini ofmeneroka Malaya bagaimana muzik popular menarik pakatan emosi yang membentuk identity kolektif. Selain itu, tesis ini juga menerangkan tanggapan terusan dan “reinvention of tradition”. Ia meneroka bagaimana repertoire lagu serta persembahan Peranakan mengemukakan jalinan ke masa lalu dan implikasinya terhadap masa depan. Rundingan identity juga merupakan pemalar sepanjang tesis ini, jelas dalam repertoire lagu dan persembahan komuniti Peranakan. iv Acknowledgment I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my parents, whom are my informant and subject of study in this research. I thank them for supporting me financially and for patiently entertaining my questions and ideas. I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr Lawrence Ross for the countless hours of discussion of ideas, for the constructive criticism of my work, insightful suggestions, and for pointing me to books and articles that were germane to my thesis. I thank Dr Pan Kok Chang, for being my supervisor at the eleventh-hour. To Margaret Sarkissian, whose work on the Peranakan is the catalyst to this MA thesis, I thank her for her constant encouragements, discussion of ideas, and also through whom I got to know many other Malaccans who provided resources for this research. I would also like to thank Professor Mohd. Anis Mohd. Nor whom words of encouragement in a particular WhatsApp message in 2014 left an impact on me to start this research in the Peranakan in Melaka. All this were truly a serendipitous event to writing this thesis. Most importantly, I would like to thank the Peranakan community of Melaka, without them this thesis will never be possible. I am particularly thankful to the late Robert Seet (d. 2018) whom provided me with so much information about the musical culture in the past; Daniel Ang, Victor Yeo, Ruby Tan, Susan Chin, Cedric Tan. To my relatives and extended family members whom also provided sources of informationUniversity on Peranakan customs and practices,of theMalaya history of Malacca, recalling old names, buildings and street names. My best friend Wong Siao Ern whom kept me sane throughout this journey as we charter on the same course of writing our MA thesis. My husband Max for being all-ears, and providing emotional and mental support since the beginning of this thesis. I offer him my deep and heartfelt affection. And to Tiger, my best furry comfort. v Table of Content Abstract ............................................................................................................................ iii Abstrak ............................................................................................................................. iv Acknowledgment .............................................................................................................. v Table of Contents ............................................................................................................ vi List of Figures ................................................................................................................. ix List of Tables .................................................................................................................... x Appendix………………………………………………………………………………...x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Background of research ............................................................................................... 2 1.2.1 Melaka .............................................................................................................. 3 1.2.2 The Peranakan Community .............................................................................. 4 1.2.3 Terms and Nomenclature ................................................................................. 7 1.2.4 Baba Malay ...................................................................................................... 9 1.2.5 Persatuan Peranakan Cina Melaka ................................................................. 13 1.2.6 PPCM Post-Independence .............................................................................. 15 1.2.7 PPCM in the Present ...................................................................................... 19 1.3 Problem Statement ................................................................................................ 22 1.4University Justification of Research ....................................................................................... of Malaya 25 1.5 Research Objectives .............................................................................................. 30 1.6 Research Questions ............................................................................................... 30 1.7 Chapters Overview ................................................................................................ 32 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................... 33 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 33 vi 2.2 Cultural Identity .................................................................................................... 33 2.3 Music and Identity ................................................................................................